1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing technique for an information processing apparatus capable of deciding the use order of users when a plurality of users share and use the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, when a plurality of companies are on the same floor and share a single MFP (Multi Function Peripheral), the following security problems arise.
The first problem arises in executing a scan job. In the situation as described above, when a first user is using a scanner function to, e.g., copy, a second user has to wait near the MFP until the scanner function becomes available. This is because, in a scan job, the second user cannot put a job in a queue in advance, unlike in a print job. In this case, when these users belong to different companies, the second user of the other company is waiting near the user of a given company using the MFP. That is, the second user of the other company may see the output material of the given company, and therefore confidential information may leak.
Considering such a situation, the second user of may wait for the MFP from a distance until the scanner function becomes available. In this case, however, the second user cannot recognize as soon as the scanner function becomes available. In addition, a third user may use the MFP before the second user. This is inconvenient for the waiting user.
In scan job processing, a system is demanded which enables a user to recognize that the scanner function becomes available even he/she is away from the shared MFP, and the user can have the MFP exclusively to himself or herself while using it.
The second problem arises in print job processing. Even under the situation described above, in a print job, the user of the other company need not wait until the print function of the MFP becomes available. On the other hand, since a new job can be continuously put in a queue during processing of the previous job, jobs transmitted from different users coexist in the MFP. In such a case, confidentiality is not secured for each user.
In print job processing, a system is demanded which does not accept additional jobs, i.e., allows a user to have the MFP exclusively to himself or herself in printing a classified document.
Under such circumstances, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-018337 proposes as a solution to the above problems a reservation system capable of reserving the use of the scanner function (capable of registering the use order of users in an environment wherein a plurality of users share an MFP).
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-018337, a user can reserve the use of the scanner function by designating the user ID assigned to each user in advance. When the use of the scanner function is reserved, the MFP prohibits the execution of a new scan job, and only when a scan job designated with a predetermined user ID is input, cancels the prohibition of scan job execution.
With this reservation system, a user need not wait in front of the MFP in order to use the scanner function next, making the use of the MFP more convenient. After the scanner function is reserved, users other than the next in line are prohibited from executing a new job. Accordingly, the reserving user can have the MFP exclusively to himself or herself for a predetermined period of time, and security is guaranteed.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-018337, however, once a reservation is made, the above-described MFP does not permit the execution of a new job of another user until the reserving user uses the MFP. Therefore, when the reserving user who reserved the MFP leaves it unused for a while, no other user can use it at all even if the MFP is available. To solve this problem, a highly convenient system is desirable in which even when the reserving user leaves the MFP unused, another user can use it when he/she wants to use it.
On the other hand, the reserving user may leave the MFP unused for a while owing to unavoidable circumstances, e.g., an urgent matter. If the reservation is automatically canceled in this case, the reserving user needs to make a reservation again. This degrades the convenience. To solve this problem, it is desirable that even when the reserving user leaves the MFP unused for a predetermined period of time, the reservation is not automatically canceled and the user need not reserve the MFP again.
In addition, as described above, security is desirably warranted not only for a scan job but also for a print job.